Timeline for Is the using of "present" and "gift" considered a matter of style?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
17 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Mar 14, 2018 at 4:09 | answer | added | Will Crawford | timeline score: 0 | |
| Mar 13, 2018 at 20:47 | comment | added | Barmar | This has been asked in the past on English Language & Usage: english.stackexchange.com/questions/7981/… | |
| Mar 13, 2018 at 15:01 | comment | added | Jay | @ToddWilcox Except my friend Greg told me that story in the mid-1970s, and "Ramona Quimby Age 8" was not published until 1981. It's certainly possible that it didn't really happen to Greg, that he was just putting a joke in the first person. Maybe it's a joke that was floating around back then and both Greg and Mrs Cleary got it from some other source. It's not like I went to any effort to verify the story -- or like I'm going to go to any effort now. :-) I hope you're happy now that you've crushed my faith in the honesty of an old friend. :-O | |
| Mar 13, 2018 at 13:30 | comment | added | Todd Wilcox | See also, donation - a gift of money, usually given to a cause or organization. Money that is given to a cause might be called a gift or donation but would not be called a present. @Jay That is a story about the fictional young girl Ramona Quimby, age 8, written about in a series of books by Beverly Cleary. In the same book, so also mishears the words to "The Star Spangled Banner". | |
| Mar 13, 2018 at 10:44 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackEnglishLL/status/973510001309429761 | ||
| Mar 13, 2018 at 0:56 | comment | added | Jay | A friend of mine once told me that on his first day in elementary school, they had one more students than they had desks. So the teacher got an extra chair and told him, "Sit here for the present". Meaning, of course, until we can find a desk for you. He said he was so well-behaved all day, and was very disappointed when she never gave him the present. | |
| Mar 12, 2018 at 23:37 | comment | added | Andrew | @JBH I hear variations of it in things like yoga classes. As you say, Kung Fu Panda is as good an attribution as any. | |
| Mar 12, 2018 at 22:49 | answer | added | TimR | timeline score: 6 | |
| Mar 12, 2018 at 22:33 | comment | added | JBH | @Andrew, I wonder who deserves the attribution for that quote. The Black-Eyed Peas used it in a song for the movie "Knight and Day" and the Internet claims Eleanor Roosevelt said it. It's one of those quotes that's been used so much and on on so many motivational posters, cards, and messages that its true attribution may be lost to time. (Making Kung Fu Panda as good as any other :-) ) | |
| Mar 12, 2018 at 22:30 | answer | added | JBH | timeline score: 12 | |
| Mar 12, 2018 at 21:19 | answer | added | Canadian Yankee | timeline score: 30 | |
| Mar 12, 2018 at 21:16 | answer | added | James K | timeline score: 4 | |
| Mar 12, 2018 at 21:16 | comment | added | Lambie | In recent years, the word gift has become a verb. Otherwise, they are the same thing. If you give something to someone, it is free. | |
| Mar 12, 2018 at 21:10 | history | edited | Virtuous Legend | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 12, 2018 at 21:08 | comment | added | Andrew | In general they are synonymous. In some cases one works better than the other, especially since "present" has multiple meanings. To quote from "Kung Fu Panda": Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift, that's why they call it the present | |
| Mar 12, 2018 at 21:06 | history | edited | Virtuous Legend | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 12, 2018 at 20:57 | history | asked | Virtuous Legend | CC BY-SA 3.0 |